1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to games and gaming apparatus, and more particularly, to a sexual etiquette discussion game which challenges players' interpretation of and sensitivity to situational dilemmas.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
There are various games involving exchanges of questions and answers concerned with knowledge of or attitudes about ethics, relationships and sexual conduct. Usually these games treat the inquiry process as a means for provoking humorous and entertaining responses and to accumulate premiums or penalties in accord with arbitrary or consensus judgements of the "correctness" of the answers. One genre of such games, characterized by U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,517 (Peacock), uses sexually oriented questions posed by one player to another, as part of random chance generated progress around a game board, to act as an "icebreaker" in a primarily social acquaintanceship process.
In another type of game, represented by U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,337 (Carrera et al), specific questions involving human sexuality are asked of each player in response to playing piece location on a game board. Answers are judged against reference answers provided. Correct answers allow players to advance. General discussion is incorporated periodically into the play of the game to encourage instructive interaction between parents and children on simple unambiguous topics.
Games based on the abilities of players to accurately predict the responses of other players to moral questions, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,939 (Makow), may include challenges requiring verbal justification of answers and assessments of a respondent's sincerity.
None of these games, however, foster free-wheeling discussion of sexuality-related issues nor focus on self-understanding and self-improvement with particular emphasis on overcoming sexual bias in the analysis of perplexing real-life situations.